Notes on the Priory Church of St Mary, Old Malton, made by Dr J.S. Purvis and published in the Parish Magazine whilst he was Vicar of Old Malton from 1941 to 1945. There are 56 numbered articles on his research. NOTES ON THE PRIORY CHURCH April, 1941 I. THE PRIOR’S COLUMN. On the North wall of the Church, to the left as one enters from the West door, there is a part of the building which has been reconstructed. It is in a style different from any other part of the Nave, and about 400 years later in date than most of it. There is no difficulty in saying by whom it was built because the Prior who was responsible for it has had his name carved on it in several places and different ways. About-half-way along the wall is a richly-decorated column. The capital of this has a band of `inscription (a very unusual feature, and part of the inscription has been carved by mistake upside down), which reads: ROGERUS PRIOR ORATE PRO BONO STATU.... That is, Prior Roger pray for the good estate of.... The last word I have not been able to read with any certainty; it is "contracted," and has been damaged, and looks most like FRM that is FRATRUM which would make the whole read: "Prior Roger, pray for the good estate of the brethren." There is no difficulty about deciding which Prior Roger this was, for he has left his "rebus" in two places on the column, and it is also on the shields held by stone angels high up on -the wall - a barrel or TUN with an arrow SHOT through it – SHOTTON. At one Place on the column the SHOT TON has a mitre and crozier on it, to show that Roger Shotton was Prior of Malton I have lately found at York an old paper which mentions several of' our Priors,' and this makes it clear that Roger Shotton ceased to be Prior about the year 1518. He was followed by a Prior with the delightful name of Roger Goodneighbour, about whom I hope to write in another Note in this series. Since Roger Shotton was 'Prior for not more than 10 years, we know nearly enough the time when that part of our Priory Church was built. J.S.P. May 1941 II. A PRIORY RIGHT Four hundred years ago the priors of Malton were Lords of the Manor of Malton, Old and New. The lordship gave to them, by feudal custom, which was stronger than law in those days, certain rights over all their tenants. One of the most valuable of these rights was that of claiming a “mortuary” on the death of every tenant. Amongst the enormous collection of legal papers of the Archbishops on which I am working at York Minster, I have lately found the record of a case in the Consistory Court, in which this right was challenged by the widow of a parishioner. The Prior’s lawyer stated the Prior’s claim in this way:- “By a laudable custom of the parish of Malton... for a time beyond the memory of man to the contrary, every Burgess of that parish being a Burgess and parishioner at the time of his death, and having then a horse with armour and saddle and bridle and arms of war fit for his body, owed that horse (or the best if he had several) and his best armour, in which he might ride more elegantly and better to war, in the name of a mortuary of the parish of Malton.” A long array of witnesses came forward to say how they had seen the funeral procession of such-and-such a townsman of Malton, and in the funeral procession his horse was led along, with the armour on it, and all this was delivered to the Prior’s servant. For instance “at the burying of Robert Manne burgess of Malton one of the servants of R. Manne rydyng upon a bay horse with a sadyll bridyll Jacke sallet splents happiron (apron) of maille and a battell hax which all to gydders (together) he delyverde to the prior’s deputie in the name of his mortuarie.” When William Rudding, burgess and Bailiff of Malton, was buried, the mortuary was a gray horse with saddle, bridle, boots, spurs, sword and buckler, and white armour, with a helmet in shape very much like the modern steel helmet. The widow in the case, whose name was Margaret Richardson, produced an equally long array of witnesses to prove that the Prior had no right to the armour, but only to the best horse. Unfortunately the records do not say who won the case, but I suspect it was the Prior. All this took place in the year 1528, and it may be of interest to give the names of some of the witnesses who were living in Malton 400 years ago. The Bailiff was Richard Hansbe; then there were Christopher Ballarde, who was a shoemaker, and Richard Ward; Hugh King of Old Malton, a mason; Thomas Hughland, John Hanse, Robt. Dalton, Richard Walker, John Hansby, Robert Baker, David Jenkinson, William Marshall, Henry Byngley; Robert Lokwoode had lived in Malton, both Old and New for 20 years, and Robert Beyll, who was aged 64, had dwelt in Old Malton for 36 years. J.S.P. June, 1941 III. A TUDOR VICAR. The list of Vicars of Old Malton, which is posted in the Porch has no names earlier than the year 1604. It is a fact that very little is known yet of the history of our Church between the time when the Priory was dissolved and the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, a period of confusion and of rapid changes in religion. But it ought not to be impossible to fill up gradually the missing chapters of our history. Already I have been able to discover one name which comes almost in the middle of the gap. The information comes from what were long thought to be the lost Court Books of the Royal High Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical in the North. In the course of my work at the Diocesan Registry, I have been able to discover and examine no less than 18 of these invaluable books, and, by the way, this is the first time that the discovery has been announced publicly. These books are of the very highest historical value, though at present the risks of war make it impossible to let students have access to them. Our Old Malton Vicar got himself into trouble by being a little too fond of the old unreformed services. The record is not complete, so we do not know the Charges in Court against him, but we have his answers. Here, then, are the answers of Roger Menithorpe, Curate, or Vicar, of Old Malton, given on 27 May 1578: - "To the first he answers that he chrestened a child on the workedaye latelie, and divers other children at other tymes but onelie suche as ar weke. To the second he answers that he dyd chersten Dobbyes childe but did not dipp it in the water but powred water upon hit heade. To the third, that he dyd burye the corps mencioned and saieth that a bell was rong before hym to call people to the corps ... To the fourth, that he went in the perambulacion upon the Ascention daie and did- say gospells at certain stations in the feilds which he will amend and not so use hereafter ... The Commissioners enioyned him to use and do At his perambulation as is appointed by the Communion booke, under payne of removing from his place." I have found another reference which gives a personal report on the Rev. Roger Menithorpe: “16 May, 1575, Roger Minithorpe, Curatt of Old Malton. He has been parson for 7 years. He is zealous. He understands Latin; not well versed in sacred duties. He professes the Christian religion. They have had sermons by (various learned preachers). He has a Register and keeps it." So he was vicar from 1568 to at least 1578. Now to find the others who were Vicars from 1540 to 1568, and from. 1578 to 1604! J.S.P. July, 1941 IV. BITS AND PIECES (i). It was said of one of the great Victorian scientists – either Prof. Owen or Prof. Huxley I think - that if he were given only one small bone of some fossilised creature he could reconstruct the whole animal as it was when alive. Without claiming to be as clever as Prof. Owen we can quite well do something of the same kind with the fragments of a monastery, because monasteries were built according to definite and easily-recognised patterns. Where certain characteristic portions remain, by comparative anatomy we may confidently reconstruct quite a large part of the building. In the Notes for this month and for August, I will try to show what certain bits of our Priory have to tell us about the parts from which they came. A. THE PAINTED COLUMN If you go into our Church on a fine afternoon or evening and look at the pillar built into the wall at the furthest right-hand corner - that is, the South-East corner, at the right side of the altar – you will notice towards the top of the column some faint rosettes of dark-red colour. At one time the whole Church was decorated in this way with simple patterns, but this is the only place where the decoration can now be seen at all plainly.